A total of 820 patients were enrolled in the trials, divided into groups that received either the therapy or a lookalike, dummy treatment. In five trials, patients given LLLT were around four times likelier to have reduced pain compared with a placebo, the paper found.

In the 11 other trials, for which there was a detailed analysis of pain symptoms, LLLT patients reported reductions of chronic pain by around 20 points on a scale of 100 points. The pain reduction continued for up to 22 weeks.

LLLT compares favourably with other drugs and other remedies for effectiveness and its side-effects are mild, says the study, which recommends that it be used in combination with an exercise programme.

Why LLLT works, though, is unclear. The authors suggest it could interfere with pathways of inflammation, muscle tiredness and the transmission of pain signals along nerves.

Between 10 and 24 percent of people suffer from chronic neck pain, inflicting a cost running into the hundreds of millions of dollars and highlighting the need for simple but effective treatent, the authors said.

American scientists are making a ray gun to kill mosquitoes. Using technology developed under the Star Wars anti- missile programme, the zapper is being built in Seattle where astrophysicists have created a laser that locks onto airborne insects.

The laser — dubbed a weapon of mosquito destruction — has been designed with the help of Lowell Wood, one of the astrophysicists who worked on the original Star Wars plan to shield America from nuclear attack.

A face full of needles may not be your idea of spa heaven. Yet as more and more of us seek natural alternatives to lasers and Botox, cosmetic acupuncture could well become the new “facelift” of choice.

They are tiny needles, and Most people really don’t feel them go in at all.

The treatment begins with cleansing. Then the needles go in: first a couple in the legs, which stings a little, then one on the belly. Still manageable. Then the face. This feels like red ant bites along the jaw, brows, smile lines and crow’s feet. Ouch. Jimenez, calm and efficient, expresses surprise at your low pain threshold and – perhaps because you are beginning to beg for mercy – the acupunture specialist stops at 12 needles (normally you would get about 14 in the face). Once in, they are, indeed, painless.Point of the exercise: a half-hour relaxing with up to 14 needles in your face can help boost your skin tone and make you look younger
Cosmetic acupunture….click & see
The pros

# Not a syringe, scalpel or laser in sight.
# Relaxing and holistic: your overall health really matters.
# Nurturing: Gemma Jimenez is sympathetic and kind DResults: it really does seem to make a short-term difference.

The cons

# Time consuming: initially you need sessions two to three times a week, then once every three weeks for maintenance.
# Ouch: the needles can smart.
# Pricey: over a lifetime, on a purely cost basis, you might be better off with a scalpel.

Hair originates from a ring of dividing cells which later die out and contribute to its growth. At the base of the skin layer dermis? there are two distinct layers of skin, inner dermis and outer epidermis? the se-ed of growth is sown as a cluster of dividing cells in a follicle (small sac-shaped cavity).

These cells divide continuously depending on the nutrients and oxygen supplied by the skin tissue and blood vessels that surround the dividing cells. In the follicle, nascent cells move upward through the centre. The innermost cells die and harden into hair while the rest also die, giving rise to a double-layered hair sheath. Every dead cell adds to the length of the hair.

Just before it sprouts through the skin, hair is bathed in oil from the sebaceous gland which secretes oily matter. Hair growth may be affected by factors like nutrition, temperature, hormonal imbalance and diseases. The popular notion that frequent haircuts help hair growth is, of course, wrong.